Can Anything Last Forever
by sleepyheadextreme
Summary: One Shot. Contains Pinecest, you've been Warned. References Mystery Kids. While the Mystery Shack throws a celebration for the Pines Twins eighteenth birthday, Dipper decides to leave his friends, family, life, and above all Mabel behind to find the answers that haunt him.


Disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Fallsor it's characters, they are the property of Disney and Alex Hirsch. I also do not own the rights to Coraline and Paranorman or their characters, they are the property of Laika entertainment. I don't Own Frankenweenie or it's characters, they are the property of Tim Burton and Disney. This is a non-profit fan writing, please support the official product.

"Hey, Norman," Dipper speaks into the phone, "It s me, Dipper".

"Dip-I Can t-you," the voice was crackled static, an unfortunate symptom of the ridiculously old telephone.

"Hold on."

The phone was practically an antique, one so old that many suspect that the yellow rotary phone was white at some point. Any normal person would ve upgraded years ago, but not Stanford Pines. The old man refused to get rid of the phone as long as his little trick worked. This trick consisted of licking ones finger, then inserting it into a chipped away hole on the phone s side. It was stupid but it worked so Dipper did it anyway. A Surge of energy shot through his finger and up his arm, he shakes it off and immediately noticed the improved sound.

"Norman, can you hear me now?"

"Perfectly."

The guy on the other end was Norman Babcock, a friend and fellow paranormal expert that Dipper met some years ago and the two instantly struck up a friendship. His family was passing through Gravity Falls on the same summer that Dipper and Mabel were forced to visit their great uncle for the first time. In that brief time the three spent together they defeated an ancient spirit and thwarted Gideon s plans to use it. The two remained close over the years and come across others with similar experiences, but a few months ago they ran into Dib and Raz who worked for an elderly man named Victor Frankenstein. The two recently approached Dipper and Norman to work for Victor as they did, Dipper and Norman explained that they needed time to think it over. Now they came to a decision.

"Great...um...Listen," Dipper hesitantly began, "I ve been talking to Victor and-and I decided to go through with it."

"I decided the same thing, Norman was far less hesitant than his friend as he made up his mind ages ago, I m just about to leave. The folks aren t thrilled, understandably speaking, but they are supportive. What about Ma-"

Dipper doesn t give him the chance to finish, "She s not coming. I think it had to do with the last time. She s gonna try the whole normal life thing. I don t blame her."

It was a bitter lie that tainted Dipper s mouth. There was a long silence after that and Dipper hoped that the connection wasn t lost until Norman came back, "I m sorry to hear that, I heard that Coraline was excited to see her again, but I m most surprised she would let you go at this alone."

"Come on, Norman. We re adults now. We can make our own decisions."

"Yeah, I guess you re right. When are you heading out?"

"Tonight," The answer was immediate and absolute, "There s just some things I have to take care of before I leave. I ll be in El Paso in a day, maybe two."

"See ya, then."

"See ya."

Dipper waits for the sound of Norman hanging up before doing the same. He feels a little sick and his knees go weak so he props himself up over the sink. The young man s stomach begins to turn itself into a knot and becomes over come by the sensation that any moment that he s going to vomit but that moment never comes. The Sickening feeling is destroying him on the inside. Dipper grabs a glass and quickly makes a glass of water and downs it. It helps but not much.

He takes his cap off for a second and runs a hand through his hair and forces himself to stand on his own two feet. He fixed his skewed button up dress shirt and straightens his tie. He had to face a crowd soon and had to look his best doing it. He makes his way out the door, he s slower than need be but he can t tell if he s stalling or just taking everything in before he leaves for good. He may complain that the shack smelt weird or that it wasn t structurally sound but he has grown to love this place as his second home. He was leaving behind a lot of good memories behind. Dipper steps out of the house and immediately hears the bump of music in the air. It was coming from the back of the house where the party was being held. The birthday boy walked around the shack but it wasn t long before he saw the enormous crowd of people. Most if not all of Gravity Falls was there as well as a good chunk of the Pines family plus a few dozen friends, mostly associated with the social butterfly that was Mabel Pines, that followed the twins from their California home.

The crowd was enormous and someone could ve easily mistaken it for some concert of a big name band if it wasn t for the large birthday banner above the stage. Dipper chuckles, even this haphazardly put together stage had memories. He and Soos built it in three days, Dipper fell off of it four times and Soos fell off at least twice that. He shook it off and walks around the crowd, knowing that trying to fight his way through was suicide, as he was needed up on stage. As he trekked across the lawn he caught glimpses of people he knew out of the corner of his eye, but he couldn t find his sister any where.

He assumed she would be on the dance floor till the last minute but perhaps she was already back stage but when he got there, all he saw was Waddles in a set of headphones as if he was coordinating the whole event. He let out a soft, aggravated sigh as he sat in a chair next to his sister s pig. A part of him wanted to talk to Mabel before everything started but there was a part in the far back of his mind that told him that it was better this way.

"Well I think this has turned out to be grand event, hasn't it?" he struck up a conversation with the pig.

"I think so too."

Had the voice been any other, just a tone off or a pitch to high and he would ve believed that Waddles spoke his first sentence- well technically seventh but demon possession hardly counts. Dipper spins around and sees Mabel in a beautiful dress that forces Dipper to focus most of his thinking capacity on not allowing his jaw to hit the floor. He then fights off the urges that follow through. He wants to hold her like he used to, but then the memories of the past week rush into his mind. He broke off their relationship a week ago, they knew it was never going to last but actually saying that it was over brought down the invisible force of reality on the twins. It made their hearts heavy and brought tears to Mable s eyes. Dipper hated to make her cry but it was a necessity, or at least that s what he told himself when Mable refused to speak to him for the next week, until she said those four little words.

"Mabel, I-" Dipper begins but the rest of the thought was silenced by Stan's arrival.

"Okay you crazy kiddos let's get this freak show over with," Grunkle stan said as he pushed the two on stage. The three stood near the back of the stage until the curtains opened up and the crowd roars like a single massive beast. The reassuring uproar only makes Dipper more nervous then he already was. A spotlight appears on the stage, encircling a lone microphone stand, and Stan walks into the circle of light. He straightens his suite, the same one he s been greeting customers to the mystery shack in since the tourist trap s creation, he adjust the microphone and begins his speech.

"When Mabel and Dipper asked me to speak at their party, the first thing I said was one-fifty up front and another Benjamin when the jobs done," Stan and the crowd began to laugh, save for the birthday twins who only let out an awkward chuckle, knowing he was dead serious.

"For more than half of their lives I didn't know them, I knew of them, which I foolishly thought was the same thing. It isn t. I took the two tykes six years ago looking for cheap labor, but they were much more than that."

He walks up to the two twins, the light following him where he goes, and wraps an arm around each, "These two taught me that swindling money outta people should never be a priority but a side thing like a hobby or a part time job or...I dunno something. The point is they showed me what was really important, friends and family."

Stan squeezed the two harder, Mabel smiled harder, and Dipper blushed harder. He let's go of the two and gives them one last clap, to which the crowd joins.

"Now Ladies and Gentlemen a speech from the lucky young lady- and Mabel," Grunkle Stan introduced the birthday twins and stepped aside. Dipper was content to sit in the back, mentally berating Stan for the young lady comment, but Mabel had other plans. She grabs her brother s hand and drags him into the spotlight. The fear hit him as fast as the light did and he began sweating a waterfall. Dipper s hands were trembling when his sister gave him a reassuring squeeze of the hand that silently told him that everything was going to be alright.

"Friends! Family! People who came for the free food!"

"Whaa-!?" Stan nearly had a heart attack at the mention of giving away free food as if the concept was some form of heresy.

Calm down Grunkle Stan, take slow, deep breathes, Mabel reassured Stan before returning her attention to the crowd, Tonight me and my brother, Dipper, turn the big one eight! We leave childhood behind and enter a strange new time in our lives. A time filled with classes you chose because they sounded cool but turned out they're not, wondering if your stash of microwave ramen will last till your next check does the cute boy in your brit lit class like you. These are important question but not as important as this- For brief moment Mabel took on a more serious face, We love and trust you with all our hearts. We thank you for taking this journey called life with us thus far and we would like to invite you to come with us till the next big mile stone, and, the next and, the next.

That goofy smile returned to her face and she declared, Of course that doesn t matter now cause its PARTY TIME!

"YEEEAAH!" The crowd roars.

"But first here s Dipper s speech."

"AAAAAAWWW," The crowd playfully groaned, letting loose small chuckles from the farthest ends of the sea of people.

Thanks for the support, guys, Dipper says under his breathe as he takes the mic from his sister. He clears his thought and nervously begins.

"Well to be completely honest, I don t have a speech ready, which is fine because it sounded like Stan and Mabel weren t ready either. I didn t have a speech because I wasn't prepared for this. Hell, I wasn t prepared for the last eighteen years let alone to marrow, or next week, or even the next eighteen years. You re probably thinking that we're thinking about how grown up we are and how we can t wait to take on the world, but to be completely honest I can t stop thinking about what s already happened. In eighteen short years we had adventures, made friends and memories that we wouldn t trade for the world and valuable lessons that'll guide us for many more years and thats thanks to all of you."

Mabel grabs her brother's hand once more and raises in triumph, as if the two were victors of a grand contest. The Crowd cheers once more which soon evolves into a rhythmic chant.

"Dance! Dance! Dance!" The crowd chants.

Wait! what!? Dipper freaks out under his breath.

Mabel guides him off stage, reaching the edge she leaps off while her brother uses the same kneel and scoot maneuver that he s been using since first grade. The people clear a path to the center of the crowd where they made a fair sized clearing for the two to dance. When they entered the clearing time seemed to stop for the pines boy. Given the boy s secret history with his sister, a slow dance would probably be inappropriate especially at this time.

Dipper turns to the stage that he just left and sees the DJ grabbing record to play, though to him it was more like an executioner preparing a guillotine. Dipper s attention returns to the circle only to find Mabel has claimed the distant side of the circle. She motions him to back up and he confusedly complies. The boy was at a loss, that is until the music began to play.

It was some kind of dubstep remix bull that he never liked, but knew because Mabel had an affinity for them. Dipper lets out a sigh of relief. This wasn t a slow dance like he feared, the two were meant move around like idiots and pretend they knew how to dance. His relief was short lived as he now panicked under his breathe about dancing like an idiot.

His sister went first. Mabel was far from a professional dancer, but she did know how to fake it. She would wiggle and swerve and seamlessly connect two random movements to look like it was intentional and complex. The crowd cheered and roared for the dancing queen. The girl does a finger snap to point motion towards her brother.

It was Dipper s turn.

Dipper would simply move and on occasion attempt a dance move he saw on T.V. or a movie and connect the two with a half assed robot. His dance didn t last long, he didn t want it to last long. He signaled to Mabel and she took over. As she danced, Dipper could notice the circle getting smaller and smaller. The crowd was joining the dancing and that was eating away at the opening.

Now was Dipper s chance to leave. He disappeared into the crowd. He began spouting out, excuse me s and, Sorry s trying to pass by and survive with minimal injury. He came out alright but managed to take and elbow to the face. Once the boy was a good distance away from the crowd, he turned and saw that the opening he was dancing in was gone. His sister must be dancing with her friends by now.

"Goodbye, Gravity Falls," He says under his breath, "Goodbye, Mabel."

He rushes to the front of the Mystery Shack, where a car would be waiting for him. Unfortunately the car was no where to be seen. Was he early? Late? Dipper stares down his watch and preys that it's broken. The boy was growing more impatient. All he wanted to do was get out of town as quickly as possible.

"Come on, Wendy, where are you?"

There was a loud bang and the sound startled Dipper so much the he jolted into the air and almost fell flat on his rear.

It wasn t long before, Wendy drives up in a station wagon so old that the blue was beaten off of most of it. The car let out a sputtering crank sound before coming to a stop. Wendy stepped out of the car. Her normal mountain girl gear was replaced by a short skirt and a V-neck blouse. Dipper had to remind himself to keep a cool demeanor, six years had done little to end the tugs at Dipper s heart strings that Wendy could evoke. She tosses him the keys and Dipper ends up doing a quick juggling bit to prevent them from falling.

"Filled her up this morning. She s a clunker with bad brakes and an axle that ll break with a gentle breeze but it ll get you there."

"Thanks, you have no idea what this means to me."

"Oh, I think I do. Wouldn't be doing this if I didn't." Wendy scanned the area and noticed the lack of luggage, "What s the deal? Packing light?"

"No, just gotta grab my stuff from up stairs and I'll be ready to go. I'll meet up with Norman as soon as I can and then its...I don't know."

There was brief and incredibly awkward silence between the two. Wendy felt the over bearing feeling that she should try to stop the boy. Dipper couldn t take his eyes off the gold band on Wendy s finger that she kept playing with.

"Take care Van Helsing," She finally says with a playful punch and a wink. Wendy was about to turn and leave, when Dipper asked her one last thing.

"And what about you? Are you going to leave like you always said you would. Find that better place and all that jazz."

She takes a deep breathe and looks around as if to find the answer floating in the air.

"No. Probably not. This town has got its claws in me and maybe it s not the horrible monster that I thought it was."

Dipper smiles and Wendy Smiles back.

"Take care," Dipper says.

"You take care,too. You ll need it." Before Wendy leaves, she nods her head to tell the boy that something was behind him. Dipper turned and saw his sister, standing a few feet away with an angered look on her face. Dipper could tell that Mabel had heard enough to put the pieces together.

"Mabel..."

"I m gonna break your ankles!" She screams and lunges at her brother with a force that pushes him against the car. The girl begins to pound her fist into Dipper s chest. The punches weren t meant to hurt, not physically anyways, they were meant to let out all of her frustration.

"Mabel. Mabel, please listen to me."

"Why!" Mabel ceased her barrage and stared her brother down with tear filled eyes, "So I can feel better about my brother running off with a crazy old turd!"

Dipper was caught off guard. Mabel greatly distrusted Victor, which earned him the name crazy old turd. He had no idea the she knew of Victor s involvement.

"You think you're the only one Victor asked to join task force crazy. He probably asked me the same day he asked you. I said no and stupidly thought you were smart enough to do the same-"

"Mabel, I m sorry. Just let me-"

"NO! Don t you dare try and make this okay! This is the furthest from Okay-"

Dipper could hear the sounds of people approaching, most likely to find out what Mabel was screaming about. He didn t have to think or reason, either with Mabel or himself. He grabs his sister by the hand and rushes inside. He guides her through the store front and up the stairs where the two slept as children. The room in many ways the same, only emptier, only the two beds remained. On one was the duffle bag full of Dipper s belongings, or the ones he cared to take with him.

Mabel tears her hand away from Dipper s and the boy turns to his sister.

"So that s it," was the furthest she got before tearing up, "You re gonna run off with your little para-freak club and leave me behind. What ever happened to those Steps towards normality that you were preaching about earlier? Wasn't that why we broke things off, so we could be normal and why weren t you gonna tell me? you were just going to leave me, Dipper? Why, Dipper!? Why!?"

"BECAUSEYOUCANSTILLWALKAWAYFROMTHIS!" It was a single loud, barely comprehensible, outburst but it had all of Dipper's emotion and energy in it. He s out of breathe and beads of sweat begin to pool on his forehead. The eighteen year old boy sat down on the bed, his head hanging low as he tried to gain some footing to say what had to be said.

"I-I can t...walk away," There s sadness and remorse in Dipper s voice, "I wish I could end it all- no more monsters, no more demons, no more mushroom pixies shaving my neck in my sleep, seriously what is with that?"

Dipper s getting distracted and he can t afford one of his How the hell is this supposed to make sense rants right now. He suddenly stood up because sitting became unbearable for some reason. He averts his gaze away from Mabel s, he didn t need to see her face to know that it s painted with worry.

"Did you know I ve had nightmares every night for the past six years? I go to sleep and I m chased, eaten, or possessed by some horrible creature of darkness that wants nothing more than to see me in excruciating pain. Then I wake up and I see that ridiculous smile of yours that some how makes everything alright again, but I see that smile now and all I can think is that I can t drag you down with me because you deserves more than that. I mean, I m going to be chasing monsters out of closets regardless if they are there or not and you ll follow me without a second thought because you..."

The word gets caught in his throat, it s strange how the meaning of that single word has changed his life so much recently. Dipper finally looked at Mabel s face and saw the worry he expected to see but also noticed that she understood, not everything just that her brother was in some kind of pain and that he was trying to heal it the only way he knew. He inches closer to her and their hands instinctively interlock and clasp like they used to when no one was looking. Dipper could smell the sweet smell of the perfume that she was wearing as he closed the gap between the twins faces. Only an inch at most separated the two.

"Promise me, Mabel," He pleaded with trembling voice, "Promise me that you ll find your vampire prince charming and have little vampire Mabels and tell them stories of how Hansel and Gretel fought Witches, giants, gnomes, lake monsters, and more. Move on and be happy. Will you promise me that."

Dipper lightly kisses her on the forehead, he doesn t push further but Mabel did that for them both. As her brother pulls away, she pulls him back in and plants her lips on his. Sweet tastes and soft lips. It was a long passionate kiss, the kind of kiss you share with the person you care for most because you may never see them again. The two part slowly but don t venture far.

"On one condition," Mabel said and her brother was a tad confused. He was so engrossed with the kiss that he had forgotten the promise he asked of Mabel.

"Yeah. Sure, anything."

"Promise me," She continues, "That you ll be safe and come back one day, then I ll promise."

A soft smile creeps onto Dipper s face and thinks that his sister will never change.

"I promise."

Dipper knows that it s a promise that he may not be able to keep, but he promises none the less because Mabel deserved the joy and hope it brought. They remain close for another moment or two as if wondering if they should kiss again, but they knew that it would only make things harder. Dipper pulls away, their eyes still making contact when he grabs the duffle bag on his bed but he finally pulls himself away and makes for the door.

Mabel wants to stop him. Mabel wants to tell him to take her with him. Mabel wants to go into the unknown with her brother, but she doesn t. She puts on a sad smile that holds back her tears. She wears it for the rest of the party, when she explains to her parents that Dipper is gone, and the painfully long drive home. The years pass and her natural smile was returned to her by friends, a husband she loves, and children that fill her life with joy, though every now and again she finds that sad smile again.

She finds it on the slow summer days, like the ones she spent with Dipper at Gravity Falls. She curls up by the window with a warm cup of coffee and stares out at the world, wondering about her brother. She often loses track of time until her husband or children give her a smile that pulls her back and she graciously returns it.


End file.
